Future studies

The Vision for Water and Nature is the "environment and ecosystems" component of the World Water Vision exercise of the World Water Council. It represents the first meaningful attempt to fully integrate environment issues into the development of a comprehensive strategy for water resource management at the global level. The vision was developed by IUCN through an extensive consultation effort based on three thematic workshops on freshwater ecosystem management and social, economic and environmental security, respectively.

This compilation contains all key documents produced during the development of the Vision for Water and Nature, the environment and ecosystems componant of the Vision for Water, Life and the Environment for the 21st Century, generally known as the World Water Vision. Included are : the Vision itself, the discussion papers which served as the basis of each workshop and the workshop reports

The paper published here was produced for discussion during the first World Conservation Congress in Montreal, Canada in October 1996. Drawing on the scientific and technical expertise of his colleagues as well as on past experience, the author sets out to draw a picture of what our environmental world will look like in the year 2025. Although by no means making any claims to be a definite treatise on the subject, this paper nevertheless raises some interesting questions about environmental trends and our capacity to adapt to change in order to shape our future.

Sir Martin Holdgate, former IUCN Director General, was a principal author of both the "World conservation strategy" and "Caring for the earth". In this book, he brings his unrivalled experience to the task of reviewing progress to date and examining what now needs to be done. He argues that we must work for change at every level, from our understanding of our place in relation to nature and the values we put on it, up to a reformed economic structure and new social institutions.